Modern Warfare 2 Vs Battlefield Bad Company 2

I became a FPS genre fan after playing Modern Warfare and Call of Duty World at War, Modern Warfare 2 fueled my liking for FPS multiplayer online gaming and while i review Infinity Ward’s Modern Warfare 2 with EA’s Battlefield Bad Company 2 (BFBC2), the background for me on these games is that i did not play BFBC part 1, so my comparison on BFBC2 is directly with Modern Warfare 2 and not it’s previous title.

Modern Warfare 2 did set the gaming charts on fire and created entertainment industry records, BFBC2 came in as a potential successor to MW2 and with some promise to dethrone MW2, we begin comparing the Single player campaign first, i have played both these games on my Xbox 360:

Campaign Length: Both Modern Warfare 2 and Battlefield bad company 2 are short on single player campaign, for me cruising through BFBC2 game stages was much faster since i have gained a veteran status on MW2 multiplayer which kinda have enhanced my reflex skills helping me complete BFBC2 relatively faster than i completed playing MW2.

NPC (Enemy) AI: Enemy AI is slightly on the better side with BFBC2 in my experience, however it took enough re-spawns for me while playing the favela level on single player MW2 campaign, the ability of blasting structures and cover system gives both the player and NPC an edge in BFBC2, if you are spotted sprinting trying to hurry up to a cover or hide inside a building or any sturcture, you would be exposed to bullets very soon.

Locales: You would be on a whirlwind world tour while playing both these games, MW2 places you as different game characters as a member of a specific army unit in different missions spread across the globe, the advantage MW2 has here is due to the introduction of “No Russian” level in the game it was able to add the shock factor to the game, while in BFBC2 also you would travel across desert landscapes, snowbound terrain, tropical jungles, with slighlty better freedom to move around in comparison to story bound linear plot of MW2, still you would flow with the story, knowing you need to get over with the war stuff, just to get back home. 

Gameplay: One has to admit that MW2 gameplay is hard hitting and fast paced, while BFBC2 gradually grows on to you with the gameplay, since it’s not all action right from the word go as in MW2. It keeps the cinematic momentum up throughout the game backed with excellent score by Hans Zimmer right to the time end credits roll, you would be left wanting for more, whereas while playing BFBC2 i got through some dull moments in some missions which had nothing new to offer other than just the wave of NPC’s coming in your way however it does manage to hold your attention.

Weapons, Vehicles and other action: BFBC2 allows you to ride more vehicles Tanks, ATB Bikes, Chopper than MW2 and offers you more weapons which you collect around while playing through the missions, weapon handling in BFBC2 is more towards the realistic side as compared to MW2, you cannot sustain much damage when exposed to bullets, chopper and tank attacks, while you can still survive the onslaught to some extent in MW2, you can see yourself freezing up while running around in a snow mission where you need to hurry up to finding cover and also battling enemies in BFBC2. MW2 scores on the range of equipment it offers like claymore, frags, semtex, C4’s, Riot Shield. BFBC2 is not very rigid on the plot even if both the games follow a set story line, you can sneak around go hiding and kill enemies using stealth and cover in BFBC2.

MW2 is on spot in terms of action for an adrenaline junkie, whereas BFBC2 maintains offers a balance in form of moments to fuel the rush for high tension action with relatively low action moments in the game where you would find not much of firepower is being exchanged and getting past the level is all that matters.

Sound and Graphics: BFBC2 has perfected the sound settings for you to feel that you are in the hotzone, MW2 is not behind however still you are overtaken by the mesmerizing score of Hans Zimmer, frequent announcements on your radio most of the times in MW2, which kinda camoflauges the sound of war for you, i could actually feel the sound of marching tanks, planes raining explosives from above, sound of an evading bullets and RPG’s fired on you gives a true surround effect to the game in BFBC2.

Graphically again the colors come out more vivid on BFBC2 due to tropical jungle missions in it and less of urban landscape to be seen in this game, whereas in MW2 you have desert and snow landscape missions but more of Urban landscape to fight. Explosions, Gunshots look better in MW2, Character modelling is on par for both MW2 and BFBC2.

To conclude on Single Player campaign both MW2 and BFBC2 have their own strenghts and shortcomings, if you are atrue FPS fan, you need to play both these games that is why i have kept myself away from scoring points for these games and to keep the Multiplayer review short and sweet all i can say is that MW2 is a clear winner out here, i found Multiplayer experience of BFBC2 dull, though it is more realistic than MW2, i still prefer the fast paced lock n load action and close combat that MW2 multiplayer offers, BFBC2 multiplayer is not so good for executing meele attack.

Let me know gamer’s what do you feel about both these games if you have played them, your comments are welcome.